Nucleic Acid (NA) based therapies are used to inhibit gene expression. Lipid nanoparticles (LNs) are capable of carrying these therapies into cells. However, this delivery requires overcoming several physiological barriers. For instance, one barrier is the acidic endosome conditions within the cel…

The Akt signaling pathway is responsible for apoptosis, cell proliferation, and metabolism. In tumor cells, this pathway is up-regulated and aids in promoting cancer cell survival. Complete activation of Akt pathway requires phosphorylation at two amino-acid residues, which are phosporylated by se…

The multi ligand receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) of the immunoglobulin superfamily is expressed on multiple cell types that are part of the immune-inflammatory response. These receptors propagate cellular dysfunction in several disorders such as in tumors and diabetes. RAGE is …

Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) have been effective tools for delivering gene therapy treatment and for manipulation of acquired diseases. Unfortunately, there is no effective method to target gene therapy for adipose tissue and transduction efficiency is low in naturally occuring AAV…

Cyclin D1 represents an important downstream effector of diverse proliferative and transforming signaling pathways. In mammary cells, transcriptional activation of Cyclin D1 leads to G1/S phase progression and increased proliferation. Cyclin D1 overexpression has been implicated in oncogene-induce…

Cancer cells shift cellular metabolism to aerobic glycolysis to gain growth advantages in microenvironments, which has raised interest in therapies that exploit the response of malignant versus normal cells to glycolytic inhibition. Chronic energy restriction is difficult to implement as a chemo-p…

Substantial evidence indicates that DNA methylation-mediated silencing of tumor suppressor genes is a mechanism for the pathogenesis of cancer and many other diseases. Thus, small-molecule agents that target DNA methylation are considered a therapeutically relevant strategy for cancer treatment. T…

There is a large emphasis on the need for novel and more effective cancer therapeutics, since there were nearly 600,000 cancer deaths in the United States in 2016 alone. One method for therapy of prostate, breast, and colon cancer that has been gaining traction is the targeting of estrogen recepto…

Hormone-refractory prostate cancer is incurable, and patients with this disease have few treatment options. Dysregulation of the androgen receptor (AR) is a hallmark of this incurable cancer. Molecular changes during cancer enhance AR sensitivity or permit AR activation by antiestrogen so that pro…

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US at approximately 600,000 deaths per year. In addition, the National Cancer Institute estimates that nearly 1.7 million cases of cancer are diagnosed each year. A report from U.S. News …